It's clear that Paul Surridge is a good designer, he knows how to cut which isn't much of a surprise with his background at Zegna and Jil Sander. His dresses are also looking increasingly more confident, which is something that most suiting-specialized designers (Jil Sander, Helmut Lang, Hedi Slimane & Raf Simons) usually struggle with. Nonetheless, his placement at Cavalli remains odd, and while his eye for proportion is surgically precise, it misses the latin heat and sensuality that so much defines the DNA of Roberto Cavalli.
If the acquisition of the brand by Philipp Plein indeed comes to happen, I see his days at the house numbered - I wouldn't mind it, since his talent would shine much more elsewhere (I throw im in as another possibility to restore Jil Sander).